


Playing All the Angles

by donotaskforlove



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-07
Updated: 2012-12-07
Packaged: 2017-11-20 12:24:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donotaskforlove/pseuds/donotaskforlove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn likes to have sex. A lot. With everyone. Harry just wonders why he won't have sex with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing All the Angles

**Author's Note:**

> Quick Note: the guys are asshole-ish at parts towards original female characters. like, douchey? just want to warn for it. also, again this isn't beta-read and brit-picked, so sorry. 
> 
> Also: the girlfriends don't exist during their first world tour. I like them and I'm not big on cheating. The rest of the timeline is more or less accurate. 
> 
> hope you guys like it anyway!
> 
> final disclaimer: none of this is real. lies here, lies there, lies everywhere.

 

 **  
**Zayn discreetly nods his head in the direction of a girl standing a little apart from a group of excited girls, by the snack table. She is checking her watch. “What do you reckon she is?” Zayn doesn't bother to whisper. **  
  
**Harry's eyes narrow in thought, trying to get a good look at her. “A Wednesday. A borderline Wednesday, at that.” ****  
  
They're hanging with a group of girls in a lounge, pre-show. Harry isn't impressed with this crop. He doesn't feel like going out after their show to pull. Harry tunes out, staring at Zayn’s necklaces, the delicate curve of his neck.  
  
Just then, another girl, sporting a huge grin on her face, walks inside, with a backstage pass dangling from her neck. Harry nudges Zayn. Zayn looks up from his mobile.  
  
“She's a solid Thursday. I'm good if you're good,” Harry says, already bored. **  
  
**Zayn flicks his arm and snorts. “Bro, you're harsh. That is Friday material.” **  
  
**Harry smiles and rolls his eyes. He tears off a piece of paper from their set list, writes down his number, and then walks over to the girl. Zayn follows him. They hug and kiss all of the fans. Nobody raises an eyebrow. “Be cool about it, yeah?” Zayn tells her, leaning in, as Harry walks away. **  
  
**It's easy enough to do it in their sleep. **  
  
*** **  
  
**Harry really clicks with Zayn two months before the world tour ends. It's April when Harry stumbles into the room he is sharing with Zayn, with Risa on his arm. She is a pretty girl, with a wicked sense of humor. **  
  
**Harry's got a hand up Risa's shirt, over her stomach, before the door even clicks shut. He doesn't realize anything is going on until he hears muffled laughter and shushing coming from his bed. Risa squeezes Harry's hand and Harry automatically squeezes back. ****  
  
Harry blinks into the dark to find Zayn and a girl making out. Zayn only looks up (from where he is sucking kisses to the hollow of his girl's throat) when Harry clears his throat, and says, “Mate.”  
  
Zayn' eyes are bottomless in the dark, with just a lone, ambient lamp on inside the room. It does nothing to make things any clearer. A second later, Zayn whispers something to his girl, who laughs and leans up to playfully tug at his ear with her teeth. Zayn is smiling when he looks back at them again. “She's cool with it. Stay. Go. Whatevah.” Then Zayn is in motion again, his hand snaking up her thigh, her breath immediately coming out in a surprised gasp. Zayn loves sex.  
  
“You good?” Harry asks Risa, somewhat distantly. “Um. Yeah, yeah. It's fine,” Risa says, after a pause. **  
  
**And it really ends up being fine. **  
  
**Harry thinks that it brings him closer to Zayn, in a weird way. It fills in more of the gaps. Not with words, or past stories, but with something that makes them equal. Harry watches Zayn come and can feel Zayn's eyes on him when Harry comes, too, minutes later, shuddering over Risa. **  
  
**Zayn slaps Harry on the bum in the morning, his hair a wild mess. His grin dirty. Harry flips him the bird. **  
  
**They come up with a ranking system after that. They come up with a lot of things. **  
  
*** **  
  
**Harry is drunk when he calls Zayn a Friday. **  
  
**Zayn gets a tattoo of it on his collarbone a week later and winks at Harry when Harry remembers and covers his face with his hands to laugh. There is a question mark following Friday. **  
  
**Louis ducks behind Niall in a strategic move and shouts, “What is Friday?” Liam scoffs and grabs the bag of crisps Louis dropped. ****  
  
Harry nuzzles Zayn with a flirty smile, and says, “Friday means super hot.” Louis is going to make a smarmy remark, Harry can tell, but he loses his strategic positioning when Niall pops up from place to go put his trainers on. Liam immediately grabs Louis in a headlock and dumps the bag of crisps on his head. Then, not even giving Louis a fair chance to retaliate, Liam leaves in a huff. “Moody,” Louis says, as he picks crisps out of his hair.  
  
Harry turns back to Zayn, who’s touching the newly-healed tattoo with a bemused expression on his face. "Its the truth," Harry insists, pressing down on the question mark, and Zayn jumps on him and starts tickling him.  
  
*

Harry starts getting tattoos. Zayn and he stay inside their hotel room sometimes and ink each other.

It's like everything else; their codes, their systems, the orgasms.

It brings them more together.

It's shaping up and mutating in meaning – becoming more solid, less mercurial. It's starting to build for itself a complex name, almost as complex as Zayn.

Harry watches out for the subtle shifts like he's watching the seasons change. It's pretty.

*

Zayn is adaptable. Zayn is like Louis when he is with Louis. Zayn is like Niall when he is hanging out with Niall. It goes on like that. Harry thinks that's why Zayn will lock himself away for hours or for days, sometimes; just to recharge himself, to neutralize the combined force of all of their personalities with silence.

It kind of makes Zayn dangerous. He is all of their good and bad qualities mixed together in one single person. The moment Harry understands that, Zayn becomes a whole new person to him. Zayn becomes all of the complexities and the unknowns of the universe. Zayn is endlessly interesting. **  
  
**Harry makes sure to pay attention more. It becomes a little bit addictive. ****  
  
Zayn always looks back.  
  
*

They don't bother with girls only three times.  
  
Harry feels the fourth one sneaking up on him like a patiently-building super storm. Harry waits for the fourth one with a sort of wild tension that leaves him on edge and angry.

*

The first time, Zayn sucks Harry off and Harry returns the favor. After they've come, they find the entire thing to be unreasonably hilarious. “Harry. _Haz_ ,” Zayn wheezes, his forehead sweaty against Harry's shoulder. “You were about to bite my dick off.” Zayn is failing to glare at him, his lips still red and pulled back in a delighted smile. They're both kind of really trashed.  
  
“It worked, though, didn't it,” Harry says, rubbing at Zayn's sweaty brow, his laughter finally dying down. Sleep pulls at his eyelids, makes him carelessly throw an arm over Zayn's waist.  
  
Zayn huffs out a breath, taps his fingers on Harry's arm. “You need to work on it. Add it to your skill set.”  
  
“Later,” Harry mutters, his teeth pressing into Zayn's shoulder in warning. Zayn needs to shut up. They need to sleep. **  
  
**Harry feels Zayn lick a line up his cheek, and grimaces, eyes still shut. “You had a little come there,” Zayn whispers, and Harry digs his elbow into Zayn's stomach and stresses, “ _Sleep._ **”**  
  
They wake up in the morning with terrible hangovers. Liam says, “Maybe you two should stop sharing for a little while.” Liam is frowning, his arms crossed over his chest. He won't look at Zayn.  
  
“Right. We'll take that into consideration.” Harry takes the seat by Louis and zones out for most of the car ride with his iPod. **  
  
**He tries listening in on the conversation that Liam is trying to have with Zayn (who must be playing dead, if the tone of Liam's voice is anything to go by), but actually falls asleep. **  
  
**Zayn will tell him later. **  
  
*** **  
  
**Zayn doesn't tell him later. ****  
  
*  
  
The second time around, Harry interrupts the home run Zayn's about to pull with two girls. They aren't fans. They look a few years older than Zayn. “Mission abort,” Harry whispers into Zayn's ear, his hands coming to rest at Zayn's waist. His fingers squeezing Zayn's hips when Zayn ignores him and carries on. Harry hooks his chin over Zayn's shoulder, with a small, apologetic grin on his face, and says, “Sorry, girls. We've gotta go. Security is rounding us up. Bedtime.” Harry rolls his eyes. Thursday and Friday pout. Zayn is going to hate him for Friday, Harry can tell.  
  
“Aww, that's too bad,” Friday says, as Zayn hands her his mobile so she can put her number in. “It's a shame,” Zayn agrees, his grin sharp. Thursday reluctantly takes Zayn's mobile and adds her number in there, too.  
  
“You better have a good reason. A brilliant one, even.” Zayn lets Harry lead him away with an arm around his shoulders, as he deletes Thursday's number. She hadn't looked entirely impressed. ****  
  
Harry leads them out of the hotel lobby – which is filled with dressed up boys and girls, ready to go clubbing – and back to their room. Zayn sulks in the lift. Harry checks his twitter feed.  
  
Back inside their room, Harry says, “Strip. Just you and me.” Zayn claps his hands together and throws his head back to laugh. Then, Zayn bites his bottom lip and smirks. Harry shrugs his shoulders and pulls off his jumper. Zayn's eyes narrow. Harry toes off his trainers, shakes his hair from out of his eyes.  
  
“I don't think you know what you're asking for,” Zayn tries. Harry isn't falling for it. “Come on,” Harry coaxes, walking until his toes bump against Zayn's boots. Until his breath falls on Zayn's upper lip. Zayn doesn't back away. They aren't drunk.  
  
“We don't have to,” Zayn murmurs, at the corner of Harry's mouth. Harry licks his lips and lets his mouth touch Zayn's. Not kissing. Just touching. He feels Zayn smile and he feels Zayn's tongue come out to wet his own lips before he his hands come up to cradle Harry's head and jaw. Harry is smiling when they kiss. The kiss is slow, exploratory. Zayn's fingers are tight and unyielding. Harry doesn't mind. **  
  
**Harry cups Zayn's hips and presses his thumbs over Zayn's hipbones. They kiss standing up for a few minutes, before Harry gets impatient. He says, “I want to fuck you,” and Zayn doesn't seem surprised. **  
  
**Zayn rushes them through it. Zayn opens himself up with two slicked up fingers, Zayn rides Harry until Harry comes. And then Zayn pushes his forehead against Harry's collarbone as he gets himself off with a shaky, frustrated groan. ****  
  
Harry watches Zayn come with some fascination. He watches Zayn's come catch his stomach and chest. (Harry flinches when he feels it, the warmth of it, and dizzyingly imagines getting hard again in a heartbeat.) Zayn languidly draws undecipherable hieroglyphs with the come cooling on Harry's stomach (his head bent and his gaze zoomed out, not there), afterward, before he makes Harry pull out.  
  
Harry tries to help clean up, but Zayn has that covered, as well. He cleans himself up, and then goes to lie down in his own bed. Harry looks at him and Zayn doesn’t look back. Finally, Harry quietly says, “Thanks.” Zayn’s short burst of laughter is forced.  
  
“You're welcome.” **  
  
**Harry wants to do it again tomorrow. Zayn won’t look at him and Harry wants to do it for the rest of their tour. Maybe during their second tour, even. **  
  
**Despite the fact that Zayn treated it as old people sex. Like they’d been married for twenty years and they’d scheduled sex into their calendar for the lack of anything else to do. **  
  
**Harry thinks about going to shower but he falls asleep instead. **  
  
*** **  
  
**The third time is complicated. Harry lets a pretty girl with a high, sweet voice and a tongue piercing go down on him in the loo, and when he gets off (and then gets her off with quick fingers and a tongue-fucking kiss), he still feels tense. His chest shakes when he breathes. He pushes his way through the crowd and pushes all the way to where Liam and Zayn are crowded together in a dark corner, Liam’s hand at the nape of Zayn’s neck. Zayn is smiling indulgently as they both pretend to shout over the music. It’s all such a fucking cliche. **  
  
**"I need to speak with you," Harry says, a little frantically. He tugs Zayn’s hand and pulls him away. Harry doesn’t know what he’d do if Liam didn’t let Zayn go. **  
  
**He pushes Zayn into the loo and locks the door. Zayn is going through a roll of expressions like he’s a flip book. "What do you want? What happened?" Zayn asks warily, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning into the sink. **  
  
**Harry opens his mouth to say something, but instead rushes into Zayn’s space to pull him into a rough kiss. Zayn immediately reciprocates. They kiss like they’re angry. Like maybe they like each other too much. Zayn lightly bites down on Harry’s bottom lip as his fingers bite into the meat of Harry’s arse in a bruising grip. Harry whines and tries to pull him closer. Zayn’s mouth is hot and perfect. Zayn’s skin is on fire. Harry feels infinitely more drunk as he skims a hand up underneath Zayn’s jumper and to a nipple. Zayn keens and folds into Harry when Harry twists. **  
  
**After that, Harry drops to his knees and fumbles with Zayn’s zip and even the slit in his boxers. Harry feels stupid and needy and desperate as he wraps his lips around the head of Zayn’s cock. As he wraps his hand around the base and as he chokes when Zayn fists a hand in his hair and fucks into his mouth. Zayn lets Harry up when he chokes and then guides him back down on his cock, his groans loud and his praise filthy. "Fuck, babe. Fuck, you look so fuckin' good. You're so--so fuckin' eager for it." **  
  
**When Zayn is about to come, his fingers clench in Harry’s hair to pull him off, but Harry doesn’t. He squeezes his eyes shut until he tears up and swallows as much as he can. He feels filthy. He feels like he’s not in his own body at all. **  
  
**"You wanna?" Zayn asks, his voice rough and low, once he’s had a moment to catch his breath. **  
  
**Harry presses down on his cock through his trousers with a wet gasp and says, “No, no.” **  
  
**Harry doesn’t lift his head. Doesn’t know how to get up. Zayn runs his fingers soothingly through Harry’s hair, with Harry’s forehead pressed against Zayn’s stomach. **  
  
**A minute later, Zayn drags Harry up and cleans them up. Gets them both looking decent. Zayn looks too serious for a guy who just came. Harry bites down on his bottom lip and shakes his hair into his eyes, not bothering to look at himself in the mirror. He’s no longer hard. **  
  
**Before they head out, Zayn stops him with a hand and tilts Harry’s face down for a gentle kiss. It feels like regret. Harry can feel his eyes well up and wants to grit his teeth. Set the entire bathroom on fire, with them inside. He is no longer so drunk. Harry still doesn’t pull back until Zayn does. **  
  
**"Ask me," Zayn tells him, his eyes a little wide, a little terrified. Harry runs his thumb over Zayn’s bottom lip and watches him press his lips together. **  
  
**"Later," Harry says, his voice hoarse, and leaves. **  
  
**Harry goes to his room and showers. And then he comes out and cuddles with Louis as Louis channel surfs. **  
  
**"I’m not gonna ask," Louis says, and that’s that. **  
  
**Harry doesn’t know how to tell Lou that he wanted to have sex with Zayn because he was jealous that Zayn had had sex with everyone else but him. It was about jealousy and fascination, in the beginning. That Louis, Liam, and Niall had gotten there first and it made Harry want to hurt and destroy things. **  
  
**In his dreams that night, Zayn is holding a baby girl in his arms and riding on an elephant with Liam. They are on a safari at a zoo. **  
  
**Zayn keeps calling the baby Lux, but it isn’t Lux. **  
  
*** **  
  
**When Harry first met Zayn, he felt physical attraction, as young as he was. Harry could tell that Zayn had felt it, too. **  
  
**It’s been there for them, from the start. **  
  
*** **  
  
**For their second world tour, Harry is more prepared. Waiting for the fourth time to come around becomes second nature. Like checking both sides of the street before he cuts across. Harry doesn’t know he’s doing it, half the time. **  
  
**Through the whirlwind that is their second album, Liam gets a girlfriend. Stops looking so nostalgic and heartbroken every time Zayn ignores him. Louis falls madly in love. Niall finds a girl who he likes, but is scared to get serious with. Zayn, meanwhile, falls into a pattern of on-again off-again with a model. They are currently off-again, just in time for tour. **  
  
**Just like Harry is off-again, with a lovely girl, who is a journalist from the states. Harry thought that there was something there, when they first met. Her dark eyes were wild and bright and dangerous. They had fallen in and out of love in a single breath, in a single night. **  
  
**Harry thinks about getting a tattoo to commemorate it. The fact that it had happened, it had been good, and it had been real. He wonders what kind of a tattoo can best depict _bittersweet_. **  
  
**He packs his things into his luggage with no order. When he can’t find his deodorant or his keys, he’s got no one else to blame but himself. They no longer share rooms. They’re too famous, too everything. **  
  
**When he can’t find his grey jumper, the one that he’s had for ages, he actually does know where to go. Harry knows that Zayn probably stole it. It feels a bit like visiting the dentist, the need to get in and out of there quickly. **  
  
**Harry doesn’t want it back. But he goes. **  
  
**He knocks on the door properly, and smiles properly when Zayn opens it up, with his mobile glued to his ear. Zayn waves him in. **  
  
**It’s there, thrown over the armchair, Harry’s jumper. Harry smooths his hands over it and waits for Zayn to finish off explaining to his girl why, this time, they might be permanently off-again. ****  
  
Harry smiles down at his hands. Zayn catches him smiling and pauses, curiously. Harry shrugs his shoulders.  
  
When Zayn finally sends her his final farewell, his shoulders drooping and exhausted, Harry goes to lie down on his neat bed. Harry drapes his jumper over his stomach and lap, and glances up at Zayn. Zayn drops his mobile on the nightstand and flops down beside him.  
  
“This is mine,” Zayn says, lightly plucking at the fabric with his fingers. Harry isn’t fast enough to trap Zayn’s hand on his chest. Zayn’s chin digs a little into his shoulder, though (a second later), which is good in its own way. **  
  
**Harry’s nose brushes Zayn’s forehead when he says, “It might as well be yours. I can’t remember wearing this more than a handful of times.” Zayn only manages to shrug unapologetically. **  
  
**They’re quiet for a minute or two, and Harry doesn’t remember why he thought he’d need to leave so badly, or why he always imagined destruction. Harry says, “So. I’m asking,” and relishes the way Zayn tenses up immediately. Safe is fun, but Harry didn’t go after safe. This might be the fourth time. Harry might as well get his money’s worth. ****  
  
Zayn goes on an elbow and looms over him, glaring. “Are you serious? Now?”  
  
Harry pulls the jumper over his shoulders and pretends to be intimidated. “Yes. Now. Talk.” Zayn rolls his eyes and flops back down. Harry pokes him in the side until he speaks.  
  
“Louis and I happened at the beginning. We were both new. Louis would panic badly afterwards, though. It stopped being fun really quick, so we stopped. Much better friends than anything else.” Zayn doesn’t look at him. “Liam and I... I was hesitant because of what had gone on with Louis, but Liam wanted to try. But then Liam wanted more, and he was--he’d get _so sad_. At us. At everything. So I broke it off.” Zayn plays with the edge of his tank, frowning. “It wasn’t supposed to be serious.”  
  
“And Niall?” Harry prompts gently, knowing it all already. Zayn glances at him and away in the blink of an eye. “These aren’t really mine to tell, but... Niall was all about ‘a mouth is a mouth and someone else’s hand is always better than your own.’ That was something I could definitely get behind.” Harry chuckles and says, “Behind or in front of, or--” and Zayn pinches his side, finally smiling. “It only happened a few times,” Zayn finishes.  
  
Zayn pauses, and stops fiddling with his tank. Harry nudges him with his shoulder, and says, “And me?”  
  
“What about you?” Zayn snaps back, with a mean little twist of his lips curving up into a smile. Harry doesn’t fall for it.  
  
“Why was I last?” Harry asks, feeling the old hurt spring up. “Why was I going to be not at all?” Zayn tugs the jumper from out of Harry’s slack hands and balls it up angrily.  
  
“I don’t know what you want me to say.” ****  
  
Harry turns to his side to look at him. Zayn is squeezing the jumper into a ball, like he’s wringing the life out of it. “Be honest,” Harry urges, his voice low, and Zayn’s face finally cracks. He looks gutted as he looks at Harry. “I still don’t know. I still don’t,” Zayn says, his voice wavering a little.  
  
Harry stares at him for a few seconds, and Zayn stares back. Doesn’t shy away. When Harry leans in to kiss him, Zayn sighs softly into the kiss. “I know why,” Harry whispers to him, with a little smile, before he pulls back enough to throw his arm around Zayn’s shoulders. Zayn settles his hand in the center of Harry’s chest and burrows in.  
  
“You’re lying,” Zayn says. **  
  
**Harry huffs out a laugh. “I’m not. Promise.” He cards his fingers through Zayn’s hair, and Zayn lets out a bigger sigh. **  
  
** **"** You’ll tell me? Yeah?” Zayn sounds like he’s joking about it, taking the piss, but Harry can feel his hand press down harder, steadying them both.  
  
“I will. Promise,” Harry says, and drapes his jumper over Zayn’s shoulders. “Good,” Zayn mutters, drawing the jumper tighter around him, “I’ll look forward to it.”  
  
They fall asleep and end up missing their check-out time.  
  
Paul isn’t too happy with them, but Harry doesn’t care. Zayn is wearing his grey jumper.

Zayn smiles at him when he looks up from his mobile, catching Harry staring. “You’re ridiculous,” he says, and Harry grins widely.  
  
END

 


End file.
